E. coli bacteria recently found in food served by Taco Bell restaurants has now sickened 46 people in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The bacteria has been traced to tainted green onions which were imported from Mexico.

Despite the head-scratching coming from the federal government as well as Yum Brands (the company which owns Taco Bell), it is no great mystery as to how this outbreak has occurred. You see, Mexican farm workers not only work for slave wages...They relieve themselves right in the same fields where your salad is grown!

E coli is found in the fecal matter of both humans and livestock. With large commercial growers devoted only to producing vegetables, it does not require a degree in microbiology to figure out the source of the E coli. Rather than running off to find a bathroom (which is almost never provided) which would cost valuable picking time, they simply defecate right next to the lettuce which ends up in your local grocery store or restaurant.

There was an E coli outbreak this past September which affected fresh spinach picked in California. During that episode, 200 people were sickened and three people died.

In 2003, green onions grown in Mexico were found to be the culprit for an outbreak of hepatitis A. 600 people became ill and four people died after consuming the tainted onions in a Pennsylvania Chi-Chi’s restaurant.

As long as we rely on a Third World labor force to pick our vegetables, our nation’s food supply is not safe. Personally, I try only to buy locally grown fresh produce (much of it from my own garden or my neighbor’s). As the weather turns cold, I turn to the canned or frozen variety or simply eat sausage pizza!

As the influx of illegal aliens from Mexico continues into this country and restaurants continue importing produce from Mexico, more Americans will become ill and many will die. The habits of these workers are not only disgusting but dangerous as well.

President Bush claims that Mexicans “do the jobs that Americans won’t do.” Apparently, they also do other things “that Americans won’t do.”